Tanchat wrote:
Dear Experts,
Someone told me that "that" must modify preceding noun or noun before the last preposition. (Please, review the formula below)
" ________Noun1 of Noun2 of Noun3 that _________"
In this case, that cannot refer to Noun1. That can only refer to Noun2 and Noun3
Could any experts explain this ?
Thank you in advance
Hey not an expert but it’s totally possible that it refers to noun1
Pardon the meaningless sentences below:
The Supreme Court of India in Delhi that is the highest court ….
In this sentence that cannot refer to Delhi or India. Only where can.
Besides the point
Supreme Court has no identity by itself. But when I add of India, I essentially give it an identity. So it’s an essential modifier. Similarly a prepositional in India, identifies the place where the court is located. Since there is only Supreme Court we know that “in Delhi” is not needed. However hypothetically if there would have been 2 in different cities then Delhi would be essential too.
That said, whatever follows that refers to the whole “Noun of Noun in Noun”
Look at the relative pronoun and the verb that follows and see if it makes sense with more than one noun in the Noun of Noun of Noun. If it does then the statement is ambiguous. If it makes sense with only one Noun in the noun phrase, and the meaning is right, then it can reach far away nouns.
There is good article from
egmat on far away nouns. Look it up on the club.
Cheers
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